Air New Zealand and ANA will establish a closer partnership in Japan from March 25 next year providing travellers on both airlines with improved access to destinations in Japan and New Zealand.

Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe and Mr Shinichiro Ito, President and CEO of ANA signed a Memorandum of Understanding at a Star Alliance CEO meeting in Ethiopia today to develop the partnership covering areas such as code share and ground handling services in Japan.

The partnership will give Air New Zealand passengers easy access beyond the gateways of Tokyo (Narita) and Osaka (Kansai). ANA operates more than 700 flights a day to 48 domestic destinations. ANA customers will have access to destinations in New Zealand and the Australasian region beyond the gateway of Auckland.

The partnership will also open up Japan as a corridor for New Zealanders travelling to Europe and other Asian destinations. ANA flies to the four European cities of London, Paris, Munich and Frankfurt as well as a range of Asian destinations including China, India, and Korea.

Air New Zealand’s Group General Manager International Airline, Christopher Luxon, said, “While Japan has been a very important destination for us for three decades, this new relationship will help further extend our reach both within Japan and to points beyond. We have a clear strategy to develop strong alliances to support our core business and this new ANA code share is a good example of putting that strategy into action.”

Air New Zealand will move its Narita airport base to Terminal 1 South from March 25th, placing it alongside other Star Alliance carriers and giving customers access to excellent terminal facilities including a modern lounge operated by ANA and smooth transit to connecting flights operated by ANA and other Star Alliance partners.

ANA’s Executive Vice President of Alliance, Keisuke Okada, said, “This partnership will add more value to our network, which will now include New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands as a choice for our customers. ANA is also willing to promote New Zealand as a leisure destination within the Japanese market and we look forward to working together to continue to grow Japanese outbound passenger numbers to New Zealand.”

The code share arrangement between ANA and Air New Zealand is subject to regulatory approval. Air New Zealand’s flight frequencies will remain the same. When the new code share launches in March next year the airline is scheduled to operate five times a week to Tokyo and three times per week to Osaka.

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Issued by Air New Zealand Public Affairs ph +64 21 747 320

Air New Zealand is proud to be a member of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, British Midland International, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Avianca-TACA, Copa Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 21,000 daily flights to 1,290 airports in 189 countries.